


The Walking Dead Christmas Special

by EmmyGreene



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Special, F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 09:47:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8974756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmyGreene/pseuds/EmmyGreene
Summary: Inspired by my favourite UK shows and their wonderfully cheesy Xmas specials I imagined what would happen in my own slightly AU Christmas special for TWD





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the places/characters mentioned. 
> 
> Wow, this is really scary. I've been writing Bethyl fanfic for months now, since the Season 4 MSF but have always chickened out own publishing them.. so here's my first one and I wrote it all in one night but the ideas had been circling in my head for about six weeks so I just wanted to get it all out... hasn't been proofread or edited so I hope it's not too awful..

Maggie stood smiling as she watched Glenn and Spencer hanging lights around the tree   
‘Looks good’ Deanna said coming up behind her   
Maggie nodded in agreement.   
‘It’s going to look beautiful’  
Deanna beamed at the sight of Alexandria decorated for Christmas. Around her garlands had already been hung, large bells and stars from an old mall display had been relocated and this oversize tree was the finishing touch.  
‘It’s just what we all need’ Deanna said, pulling her scarf tighter around her.   
‘well we wouldn’t mind if it stopped snowing a little’ Maggie added   
‘Oh you’ll get used to it’ the older lady patted her on the arm, ‘You’re doing a great job’  
‘and Eugene’s figured out how to keep it all it up all night long’ Rosita said walking towards them with Eugene and Abraham either side.   
‘I’ve finished the final adjustments on this one’s costume too’ she added, nudging Abraham ‘I don’t know that he’s the most traditional choice but the boots fit so’  
‘He’ll be perfect’ Maggie smiled. ‘It will all be perfect, it has to be’  
Glenn shot a look at Spencer who gave a sympathetic nod. The excessive Christmas party and concert had been Maggie’s idea and she had become utterly obsessed with the project. She obviously needed a distraction from the fact they were spending their first Christmas without Hershel and Beth, Tyrese, Bob and Noah too. But she’d gone from happy holiday maker to dictator over night.   
‘Almost done’ Glenn called down to his wife   
‘I changed my mind. I do want that coloured set on their after all’ she called up to him  
Spencer groaned ‘My fingers are freezing’   
‘There’s a fire waiting when you’re finished’ Deanna called up to him   
Begrudgingly he climbed down to retrieve the second string of lights. 

Around Alexandria preparations for the big day were in place. Carol had been busy baking batch after batch of sugar cookies and plum pudding. By some miracle they’d found turkeys to pluck and stuff ready for the feast. The vegetable garden had finally taken off and they had enough potatoes, green beans and carrots to serve everyone. Bottles of champagne and wine had appeared at the supply room door and nobody asked any questions but noticed a definite swagger to Abraham’s step that day. The children had been put to work threading popcorn and cranberries and even if they’d rolled their eyes the whole time Enid and Carl had helped, making sure to include Judith in the process. It was to be her first real Christmas and her big brother wanted it to be magical for her, even if he thought this whole idea was a little crazy.  
Sasha had still been spending too much time locked up in the tower, keeping watch hours past her shift. Her eyes were sunken, she’d lost too much weight but she was unable to move on from all that she’d lost this year. And Abraham and his flirting? Well that just made her more confused. Sure, she liked him but he was spoken for and she didn’t want any additional conflict in their group. Besides, she saw the way he looked at Rosita when she sauntered across the community in those skin tight jeans and she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever really give that up. Her shift had ended over an hour ago, someone, she couldn’t even remember his name had taken up watch in the tower now but she couldn’t bring herself to move. The snow falling made it harder to keep an eye on things so she stayed there staring out over their home. That’s when she saw it, Daryl Dixon sneaking out into the nearby forrest and breaking down next to a tree. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen him out there alone. She understood it was hard for him inside the walls and he often left for a smoke on his own, or to track down fresh meat but this was different. Even from this distance she could tell he looked defeated, sobbing against the tree, underdressed for the freezing weather. She looked away, when it came to Daryl, she knew there was nothing she could do other than to respect his privacy.   
The snow fell down heavy around him, landing on his hair and eyelashes. He’d never seen it as thick and constant as it was up here, he was freezing and knew his leather jacket wasn’t warm enough, even with his vest layered on top. He stopped himself then and took a few deep breaths. That he was able to focus on the weather was a sign he was through the worst of it. It being these attacks, these moments of absolute weakness when he couldn’t focus on anything except that deep ache inside him. It had been like this since he’d come across Merle that day and had only worsened since they lost Beth. He came out here alone as often as he could, when he couldn’t hold it together anymore. He’d lost count of how many times he’d cried since arriving in Alexandria. Although the community was a beacon of hope for their group to him it was a reminder that everything beforehand was finished. He would continue to live but his brother and Beth would not. Cigarette burns covered his hands and arms. All those years his father left marks and brands upon his skin and here he was doing the same to himself. It was a distraction. He scooped up some snow and pressed it to his eyes in an attempt to make them look less red and puffy on his return.   
The final decorations were hung and everyone went about their evenings. Families gather around dinner tables together, couples toast with wine.   
Abraham is walking towards the wall to take a shift on watch when he sees Sasha walking back towards the tower.   
‘Didn’t you just come down from there an hour ago?’ He questioned   
‘You keeping tabs on me?’   
‘Just thought you were past all that’  
She grunted. He put his hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it away.  
‘Don’t you have somewhere to be?’ It sounded harsher than she’d meant, she just didn’t need this obstacle today.   
‘I’ve got watch with Daryl’  
She paused and tried to soften her face   
‘Just... see if he’s doing OK?’   
He shrugged.   
‘He’s not a big talker’  
‘You’ll talk enough for both of you’ Sasha said as she headed towards the tower. 

The red head has got a thick black scarf wrapped around his neck and a beanie to match. He’s layerd up under his jacket too; it’s going to be a cold one. He’s also got a sneaky bottle of bourbon and a packet of smokes; essentials to make it through four hours in this weather. He climbs up to find Daryl already in position.   
‘Can’t see a thing’ he says by way of acknowledging Abraham’s arrival  
‘and hello to you too.’  
There’s silence for a moment before Abraham pulls out a smoke and offers his lighter to Daryl   
‘Well Maggie wanted a perfect white christmas’ Abraham says to break the silence  
‘hmm’   
‘She’s got a way of gettin’ what she wants. Even got me donning the red suit and boots to play the big guy’   
At that Daryl looks up ‘How’d she con you into that’  
‘She got to Rosita first and she promised she’d make it worth my while’ Abraham said with a wink  
Daryl gave a nervous laugh and the silence returned.   
‘I’ll walk the first lap then’ Abraham said and Daryl nodded.   
The snow continued to fall and Daryl looked out into the darkness. Nights like this being out here felt almost pointless but he knew he’d never forgive himself if they didn’t keep the walls manned and watch tower ready at all times. The past few years had taught him you never could tell just when shit was about to happen. 

Abraham returned and held a hip flask out to Daryl.   
‘Can’t see a fucking thing stuck inside this giant snowman fart’ he announced.  
Daryl took a swig and felt the warmth of the booze travel through him.  
‘Aint not moonshine’ he said and took a second.  
Abraham pulled his scarf tighter around his neck and absent mindedly played with the ends of it. The scarf Rosita made for him. Rosita whose short shorts and tits had been there at the right time to distract him from everything else. They’d both needed that, needed their mission. Since they’d arrived here, she’d remained as loyal to him as ever but he couldn’t stop his mind from wandering.   
He looked up at Daryl   
‘You ever think about settling down?’   
‘huh?’ It wasn’t the question Daryl was expecting.  
‘finding a lady, settling down’ Abraham said downing another mouthful of the booze.   
‘you really want to settle?’   
Now Abraham was surprised, he hadn’t expected much of a response let alone one like this.   
‘Not settle on who but commit to one person, start a future’   
Daryl looked right up at him   
‘But not with Rosita right?’  
Abraham shrugged and offered the flask back to Daryl.  
‘I’m good man, not a nice drunk’  
Abraham quickly emptied the flask on his own then started talking again  
‘You been bumpin uglies with anyone since all this happened?’   
Daryl shook his head   
‘I never even see you looking at other women. Your either not interested or had your heart broken..’  
Daryl nodded ‘something like that’  
‘You lose someone?’ Abraham knew he was pushing his luck but the bourbon was already working its magic and his filter was breaking down  
Daryl nodded   
‘the one?’   
‘guess so’   
‘before all this?’   
‘after’   
‘oh’ Abraham didn’t know what to say. He’d never heard anyone in the group talk about Daryl losing someone he loved but then so much had happened to the group before he arrived. Some people they lost were mentioned from time to time- Maggie’s father and sister, Rick’s wife but he was sure there were others. He knew at one point there’d been a prison full of them, a farm house and a camp before that so who knew who Daryl had lost along the way.   
Daryl’s voice cut through his thoughts   
‘If I had my time over again, maybe it might have been different. If she was here, I wouldn’t be wasting my time with someone else’ he looked up at Abraham who suddenly noticed how puffy Daryl’s eyes were.   
‘Well thats some food for thought’ Abraham said   
‘Sasha asked me to see if you’re doing OK’ he continued   
‘I’m fine. Gotta be’ he said.   
The silence returned and they sat there consumed by their thoughts. Abraham still fighting himself on whether his future was with Rosita or Sasha and Daryl lost in the past.   
He didn’t have many good memories of Christmas. He once got a present from Santa at the mall, another year his mother somehow put together a full traditional roast and his father didn’t even show up to ruin it until it was mostly gone but they were small faded memories now. The memory burnt into his mind now was from that night at the funeral home. He’d fallen asleep listening to Beth playing the piano, it was the most relaxed she’d been in weeks. She looked angelic in that dark room, surrounded by candlelight and singing with that voice of hers that either drove him crazy or broke his heart depending on the day. That night it hadn’t annoyed him, he’d loved every minute of it. When he awoke from his sleep she was still sitting there, the candles almost at the end of their life and she was singing a song he’d forgotten he knew.   
‘All is calm, all is bright  
Round yon virgin mother and child  
Holy infant so tender and mild   
Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace’   
He must have moved or made some noise to let her know he was awake.   
She turned to face him   
‘I ran out of songs I knew by heart so I moved onto Christmas carols’ she confessed with a smile  
‘My momma taught me to play them before anything else’   
He nodded ‘I liked it’   
The faintest trace of a blush spread across her lips.   
‘You tired?’ he asked her  
She nodded   
‘Yeah but I couldn’t move and didn’t want to wake you’   
‘Want me to take you upstairs?’ he asked  
She shook her head   
‘No, just one of those sofas in the living room’   
He nodded and headed to the piano. He scooped her up, bridal style.  
She giggled   
‘I thought I was heavier than I looked?’  
‘Yeah well I knew what to expect this time’   
He placed her on the sofa and spread a blanket across her lap   
‘Night Beth’ he whispered   
‘G’night Mr.Dixon’ she whispered back.   
He’d gone into the next room and blown out the candles but fell asleep with the image of her surrounded by their light burned into his mind. He knew he’d never forget that evening, how she had made him felt. It was a turning point for him, he knew that from then on he’d follow her lead. If she wanted to stay in the house then they’d stay. He’d do anything he could to feel as content as he had lying in that coffin listening to her sing.   
But that had been the way of his life thus far. Just as he found some small piece of happiness it was torn from him. He’d no sooner announced his intent to stay to Beth than she was gone. After that, well he didn’t wont to dwell on that tonight. Instead he tried to remember how it felt, to remember her voice. It might not have been December but it was his fondest Christmas memory.   
Just when Daryl thought his fingers had frozen solid the snow stopped falling.  
‘Reckon thats it for now?’ Abraham asked   
‘Dunno enough about it. But theres only 10 minutes left on watch’   
At that they looked up to see Aaron and Rick on their way towards them.  
They exchanged brief notes on the night before Abraham and Daryl left for bed.  
Abraham looked up to the tower, he knew Sasha was still up there but doubted she could see him. He raised an arm up just in case. 

The following morning was Christmas. The decorations that had seemed excessive the day before were now matched by the overtly joyful moods of the people. Carol delivered packages of Christmas cookies and pies. Wrapped gifts were exchanged.   
The whole community gathered in Deanna’s home for lunch. Maggie’s stomach swelled in front of her but Glenn kept his hand placed firmly on the small of her back.   
Rick and Michonne sat next to each other, Judith perched on Rick’s knee bouncing as Michonne kissed him.   
Tara and Denise were holding hands and swapping drinks, Carol and Tobin were next to each other, Carl and Enid, Aaron and Eric to his left were so wrapped up in each other they may as well have been the only people in the room.   
It didn’t matter where Daryl looked he was surrounded by couples and it seemed stifling. After his talk with Abraham last night and the mood he’d been in prior, he couldn’t get Beth out of his mind. He couldn’t help but think of what might have been.  
She could have been here, champagne glass in one hand as she secretly sipped his whiskey. She could have been handing out the baked goods with Carol, helping the kids with their craft. She could have been sitting to his right, hand placed possessively on his thigh. That could have been her with the growing life inside her. But it wasn’t and once again the sadness of that overwhelmed him. He excused himself from the table and headed for the wall. Aaron stood to follow but Eric pulled him back ‘let him go’ Eric said.   
Daryl headed to the wall, where he’d sat on watch the night before. During lunch only the tower was being manned so he knew he’d be alone. He sat looking into the distance and lit up a smoke. He must have stayed there a while because before long he heard the distant sound of carols being sung. The lunch must have ended and the concert begun.   
He heard a noise and looked down to see Enid of all people climbing up to join him.  
‘Can I sit here?’ she asked   
He shrugged.  
She looked at him   
‘You don’t celebrate Christmas either?’   
He shook his head   
‘Jewish?’   
He shook his head again.  
She smiled softly. ‘I am. I think the foods OK, but I don’t think my parents would like me singing all those songs about Jesus’.   
He nodded.   
He continued to smoke and she sat there and closed her eyes.  
She breathed in the smell of the smoke and sighed.  
‘It reminds me of my Dad’ she said.   
‘You want one?’ Daryl offered. He really didn’t want company but for whatever reason Enid had approached him and he wouldn’t ask her to leave or make her feel uncomfortable. Well not intentionally.   
‘No. I just like the smell.’   
She leaned back against the wall and sat like that for ten minutes then smiled.

‘Thank you’ she whispered.

Meanwhile outside the walls a blonde girl in an oversized dark coat was fighting her way through the snow. She’d had to stop walking for over a day while it fell, she’d needed strength but now she was out of food and bone cold and just needed to get somewhere. She marched on in her cowboy boots, the toes now duct taped together. She needed shelter fast. She needed people. Her hair was covered in a dirty white beanie, a scarf wrapped up to her eyes. She had seen the walls in the distance and was ready to take her chances. As luck would have it Sasha was just climbing down from her tower when she saw the slight figure approaching.   
‘It looks like a child’ she thought as she continued to climb down but cautiously she approached, her gun at the ready.   
Beth noticed the woman approaching her and reached for her own pistol. She held it out but lowered her scarf, she didn’t want to make enemies. They came a few feet closer to each other and their eyes met.   
‘Sasha’ Beth almost screamed   
‘Beth. Oh my god’ Sasha cam running to throw her arms around her.   
‘How, how, what’ Sasha couldn’t get her words out.   
‘It’s a long story’ Beth choked out. Her mind couldn’t comprehend what was happening. She’d found one of her own people.   
‘Is anyone else here?’ she asked.  
Sasha smiled ‘come and see. There’s a Christmas party on and theres a few people who’ll want to see you’   
Sasha took her hand and didn’t let go. Tears filled her eyes. ‘I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you’ she said.  
Beth smiled. They’d never been close but they’d had a bit to do with each other and Sasha had been there that day. She followed her through a tin fence, opened up by two men she didn’t recognise.  
‘She’s with me but I’m taking her to Deanna’ Sasha had said. They walked through empty streets decorated in lights and wreaths ‘There’s electricity?’ Beth asked ‘and hot water’ Sasha said with a nod.   
Beth could hear singing in the distance.

At the Christmas party Maggie finally took the stage.  
‘Like a lot of you, I’m sure, I can’t help but thinking of my family who aren’t with me today’ she spoke into the microphone ‘so I wanted to sing one of my Daddy’s favourite songs’ she said and began to sing.   
Beth heard her sisters voice across the streets and looked at Sasha with hopefilled eyes. Sasha nodded encouragingly.   
They walked around the back of a large home and there in front of her was Maggie singing to a crowd.   
‘Fall on your knees  
Oh hear the angels voices’  
Beth couldn’t help herself she approached her sister and joined in   
‘Oh night divine oh night when Christ was born’   
Maggie starred at her in disbelief then burst into tears. Within moments her sisters arms were wrapped around her.   
Glenn and Rick were running to the stage, Michonne, Carol and Michonne close behind them.   
‘You’re here?’ Maggie whispered. There was a mass of arms and bodies crushing against eachother trying to get to her.   
In the audience Tara looked at Rosita quizzically   
‘Her sister?’ Rosita asked  
‘but she’s?’   
‘I guess not’ the two watched on as their group flocked around the blonde. 

Abraham in his Santa suit had been walking away from the concert, his Santa duties fulfilled when he heard Maggie’s voice break into the microphone. He was just close enough to turn around and see the scene on stage. Definitely a reunion of some sort but he couldn’t make out what. Sasha found him then.   
‘It’s a miracle’ she said beaming, ‘Beth, Maggie’s sister, she’s here, we gotta tell Daryl’   
The two of them headed to the wall. He was in the middle of lighting another cigarette when he saw the two of them approach together a small smirk spread across his lips. 

‘Daryl’ Sasha called out ‘you gotta get to that concert, something you need to see’ he called out   
‘Nah not my scene’ he replied as they climbed up.’   
‘Beth’s there’ Sasha said.   
He stared at her so she repeated herself.  
‘I found her just outside the walls. She’s alive, she’s with Maggie’  
But before she could finish though he was up and running without a second thought. They turned to follow him.  
He ran right through the crowd to see his people together on the stage, arms around each other.   
‘Beth’ he called out.  
She looked up   
‘Daryl’ she pushed her loved ones away to run to him. She threw herself at him, into his arms.   
By now the crowd had caught on to what had happened. That was Maggie’s though to be dead sister up there. It was a true Christmas miracle.   
Daryl wrapped his arms around Beth and held her as close as he could.   
Aaron and Eric stood up and encouraged everyone to clap. Someone pressed play on a CD and ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’   
Abraham reached out and took Sasha’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Watching Daryl reunite with Beth left no question in his mind just who Daryl had been talking about a few nights ago.  
Beth and Daryl couldn’t let go of each other. He was aware of the crowd around them but for once he didn’t let them get to him.   
‘I missed you’ he whispered.  
‘I missed you’ she replied. She looked up and kissed him softly on the lips and the crowd began to clap more furiously. From the back someone cheered. Maggie looked at Glenn and smiled.   
He kissed her back then pulled away just holding her again and looking up at their family. He loved her and he needed them and he’d never felt more hope and joy in his whole life than he did in this moment.   
From the back Abraham shook his Santa bell one more time and with his booming voice cried out ‘Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night’ and it was.


End file.
